Les Tragédies de Sophocle, traduites par M. Bellaguet (1879)

Contributors

Contributor Contribution Main contributor
Louis Bellaguet (1818-1900) Translator
Year: 
1879
Notes: 
Prose translation by Bellaguet of Sophocles' extant tragedies was first published by Hachette in 1879 and reprinted four times in 1892, 1897, 1903 and 1911. But Bellaguet's translations were also abundantly available in separate editions well before the first collective volume. Individual translations were either published with the Greek original on the opposite page or as part of a series called 'Les Auteurs grecs expliqués par deux traductions françaises, l'une littérale et juxtalinéaire, l'autre correcte et précédée du texte grec' (literal translation by Louis Benloew, and, in the case of Oedipe Roi, by M. Sommer). In the BnF catalogue, OEdipe Roi is the play with the highest number of separate editions (1843, 1845, 1851, 1869, 1884) along with Philoctète (1844, 1846, 1863, 1869, 1902), closely followed by Electre (1845, 1863, 1869, 1915) and Antigone (1843, 1864, 1899, 1909) both of which also proved the most lasting, with later twentieth-century editions than the others. Ajax (1845, 1904) and Oedipe à Colone (1843, 1849) seem to have been in somewhat lesser demand. Les Trachiniennes was published only once, in 1846, for what may well be the the first separate edition of this particular play in French translation. Paul Claudel owned a copy of Antigone (1909), Electre (1869) and Oedipe roi (1929?). Digital versions show how the 'two translations method' was displayed. On the left page, there is a passage of the original text with, just below it, the corresponding prose translation by Bellaguet. On the right page the same Greek passage is reproduced in a column on the left with a word-for-word translation next to it (added French words are in italics). Sources: BNF catalogue général, Delcourt, Marie. Etude sur les traductions des tragiques grecs et latins en France depuis la Renaissance. 1925, p.228-231. Bazaud, Maryse. Catalogue de la bibliothèque de Paul Claudel, p.149 http://books.google.com/books?id=XC31MxJZvvQC&pg=PA149 (02/08/2012). Two editions of Philoctète are available online: 1902 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57751631/f2.image (02/12/2011) and 1878 http://archive.org/stream/philoctte00bellgoog#page/n13/mode/2up (28/08/12), as well as two editions of Antigone: 1858 http://archive.org/stream/antigone00bellgoog#page/n13/mode/2up and 1864 (temporarily inaccessible due to cataloguing); and three editions of Oedipe roi: 1859 http://archive.org/stream/oedipecolon00soph#page/n7/mode/2up 1869 http://archive.org/stream/oedipecolo00soph#page/n5/mode/2up and 1906 http://archive.org/stream/oedipecolone00soph#page/n7/mode/2up (28/08/12).
Publication details: 
Paris: L. Hachette
Languages: 
French
URI: 
productions/translations/8852

How to cite this translation

Les Tragédies de Sophocle, traduites par M. Bellaguet (1879), accessed at http://www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk/productions/translations/8852 <19 April 2024>